About

ALGIMANTAS PETRAS KAVOLIUKAS (1939–1991)

Gintaras Kavoliukas was in a hurry. To see his father, mother, sister and brother as soon as possible. In the middle of the day on January 13th, he got off the train from Moscow in Vilnius and took a taxi, intending to surprise his family. The driver couldn't help from telling about the tragic events of the previous night. As he was driving the traveller to Karoliniškės, he suggested that he look at the television tower after hours of rampage. However, the tanks didn't make a big impression on Gintaras that afternoon. He had seen such tanks when he was serving in the Soviet Army. Now he was coming home for a short vacation, and after two months he would return for good. His thoughts were somewhere else... After quickly paying the driver, he opened the door to his house. His mother, dressed in black and with tears in her eyes, looked at him. His relatives had gathered. He choked up. In a moment he already knew that at 2:00 a.m. his father, Algimantas Kavoliukas, had been run over by a tank. His mother, Genovaitė Kavoliukienė, had left the tower with her daughter a bit earlier and had gone home. After some time, their fifteen-year old son Darius also came home. Her husband didn't return. They thought that he had gone to Parliament. At that time Algimantas Kavoliukas was already dead.Gintaras recollects his telephone conversations with his father. First they talked about the events in Lithuania, about his daily work in the store, and about the summer cottage that his friend helped him build in the garden. He always finished what he had started.The son especially remembers the words that his father had said to him two years ago as he was seeing him off to the army (at that time there was no alternative):--Be an honest person and don't hurt others.He constantly used to tell about the rebirth in his native country and always used to repeat:--Lithuania must be free!...Algimantas Kavoliukas had long stood against wrong doers. When the paratroopers occupied the Press House the first time, he protested with the others, demanding justice. He stayed by that building for two nights the second time as well. On January 11th, he rushed there even before the paratroopers did. Protesting against the occupation, he was immortalized by a journalist from Norwegian television.When Algimantas didn't return home for a long time that fatal night, neighbors went back to the tower to look for him. Only in vain... In the morning, patrons of one store in Viršuliškės saw, in place of a smiling and obliging salesman, a portrait of Algimantas Kavoliukas tied up with a black ribbon. There were flowers. Later, the customers brought a lot more.